Cyber liability insurance

Last Updated: 26 October 2018

As technology grows, so does the insurance cover needed to protect against any new risks unique to these devices. Risks such as ‘cybercrime’ can include hackers gaining credit card information, or someone flooding your network with incoming web traffic until it breaks down.

Cybercrime can come in the form of your business’ connection to:

the internet

email

computer programs

the private data of clients.

How to protect yourself

Cyber liability insurance can protect your exposure to cybercrime. It covers the cost of keeping your data secure as well as the expenses from the disruption to your business.

There are some ways all businesses can protect themselves:

Update your passwords – having a password such as ‘123456’ or worse still, ‘password’ is leaving yourself open to being hacked. Consider pass-phrases that swap letters for symbols and use different spelling. Also consider using a password manager that securely stores and generates passwords.

Make sure you have anti-virus software – also consider upgrading to a business level of anti-virus software and update it often.

Back-up your system – use a portable hard drive to regularly back-up your system and files.

Seek help from an IT professional – if your system does get a virus or ransomware that may delete your files, don’t panic. And don’t reboot your system as this may trigger the virus. Call an IT professional to sort it out for you.

Talk to an insurance broker or insurer about options that reduce your risk to cybercrime.

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